ACCRA, Jan 31: Samuel Eto’o became the all-time record goalscorer at the African Nations Cup on Wednesday when he fired Cameroon into the quarter-finals, where Egypt will also feature despite Zambia holding the defending champions to a 1-1 draw.

In Tamale Eto’o’s first half penalty and end-of-time second sandwiched between defender Mohamed Khiber’s own goal fired Cameroon to a 3-0 win over Sudan to bag the Group C runners-up spot on six points.

Over in Kumasi, where the attendance figure barely touched 5,000, Egypt were held by come from behind Zambia with a point sufficient to make them the group leaders.

Egypt are in a quest here for a record sixth title.

The Pharaohs and the handful of fans had to contend with a smoky stadium as sawdust bonfires were lit outside in a local tradition to ward off mosquitoes, flouting local authority laws.

Wednesday’s two losing sides Sudan and Zambia joined Morocco, Benin, Mali and Namibia on the opening round scrap heap.

Eto’o was level on 14 goals with Laurent Pokou of Ivory Coast entering the final-round fixture and took just 27 minutes to create history at Tamale Stadium before adding a second in stoppage time.

The three-time African Player of the Year celebrated reaching the milestone with extreme calm, returning to the centre circle while accepting the congratulations of team-mates approaching him one at a time.

Eto’o struck his first Nations Cup goal in a 2000 group match against Ivory Coast in Accra and his tally includes one hat-trick, against Angola in Cairo two years ago.

A fierce critic of racism, Eto’o helped the ‘Indomitable Lions’ win the symbol of African national team supremacy in 2000 and 2002 and this is his fifth appearance at the biennial tournament.

In the other game being played simultaneously Amr Zaky netted Egypt’s goal after quarter of an hour while Sudan’s Christopher Katongo drew his team level on 87 minutes when he shot from inside the box.—AFP